Pakistan has freed eight Taliban prisoners and has agreed to release many more to help kick-start a peace process that could lead to a political resolution of the 11-year-old Afghan war, Afghan officials said Thursday.

The decision to release the prisoners, including former justice minister Nooruddin Turabi from when the repressive Taliban ruled Afghanistan, is seen as a signal that neighboring Pakistan might be willing to take concrete steps to revive efforts to lure the group to negotiations.

The three Afghan officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not yet authorized to discuss the results of the sensitive meetings in Islamabad.

The United States and its allies fighting in Afghanistan are pushing to strike a peace deal with the Taliban so they can withdraw most of their troops by the end of 2014. But considerable obstacles remain, and it is unclear whether the Taliban even intend to take part in the process, rather than wait until foreign forces withdraw.

Pakistan is seen as key to the peace process. Islamabad has ties to the Taliban that date to the 1990s, and many of the group's leaders are believed to have fled to Pakistan following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.